[Intime Sports]
Greece paid for its poor defending in set pieces in Glasgow to suffer a 3-1 reverse to Scotland on Thursday for the qualifiers of the 2026 World Cup, even though it had dominated the game up to the minute it opened the score.
For most of the match the Greeks had remarkable movement off the ball too, and efficient coverage of space, while also winning most of the 50-50 balls at Hampden Park.
Despite creating lots of spaces for themselves with clever overlaps and dummy moves, the Greeks were unable to translate their superiority into goals before the 62nd minute: Their pressure then paid off with a team move that filled the Scottish box with Greek bodies and Kostas Tsimikas opened the score with his first ever goal for the national team.
However it only took the Scots two minutes to equalize, as a lapse of concentration in the Greek defense after a corner from the left, led to some inept clearance that left the ball to the feet of Ryan Christie who tossed the Greek net from close range.
It got worse on the 80th minute when the Greek defense was once again unable to defend a set piece, this time a free kick, with Lewis Ferguson capitalizing on the melee to push the ball into the net of goalkeeper Kostantis Tzolakis.
Substitute Konstantinos Karetsas was denied by the keeper in injury time, before another poor clearance, this time by Tzolakis, gifted the ball to Lyndon Dykes who added Scotland’s third from a rather tight angle.
Greece is leaving Scotland empty-handed and on Sunday Greece it is traveling to Denmark where it must not lose.